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You know that this The Avengers: Age Of Ultron movie is going to deliver. It's a moot point, right? Hardly up for discussion because the trailers look great and in Joss we trust, right? But I can't help thinking that the Avengers sequel could eventually end up being over shadowed by the insane cast and circumstances that is building up around Captain America: Civil War.

Hawkeye Returns

There is a Hollywood Reporter article that has basically confirmed Hawkeye as appearing in the movie which is already scheduled to include Captain America: The Winter Soldier cast members Falcon, Black Widow and Bucky Barnes plus the addition of Iron-Man, Black Panther and a certain someone who guys by the name of Spider-Man. And that's not including bad guys like old Crossbones and new villain Baron Zemo...

This is shaping up to be a superhero movie of epic scale - though I wouldn't be surprised if we get confirmation not too long from now that Hulk will be appearing as well and that the movie will be split into two parts. While we don't yet know what will lead to the MCU version of the Civil War, there has been much speculation that the event that launches the Superhuman Registration Act could involve the Avenger's most volatile member, the Hulk, going on a rampage.

Also, since we know that Avengers 2 is setting up a sure to be tragic romance between Black Widow and Bruce Banner, it would make sense that unless we already witness the beginning and end of this superhero fling in Age of Ultron, the story would continue in Captain America 3.

Is the Hulk to Blame?

It makes me wonder could the fight between Hulk and Iron Man's Hulkbuster outfit be the real finale of Avengers 2? After the events of Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, Bruce Banner ended up tucked away in a deep below ground bunker to keep him from causing any more damage. Could Avengers 2 and Captain America 3 put Hulk in this situation and use him as the catalyst for the MCU's Civil War, and put him out of the picture for Captain America 3, all in one fell swoop? That would be some tight plotting by the folks at Marvel.

The Starting Line-Up

So with all these heroes that actually are confirmed to appear - how will this Civil War end up playing out? Which side will Avengers like Black Widow and Hawkeye end up choosing? What about newcomers like Black Panther and Spider-Man? By the end of Avengers 2 we could end up making being able to make some easier choices, but if I had to pick a line-up today, it would look something like this...

On Captain America's side: Black Widow, Falcon, Spider-Man

On Iron Man's side: Hawkeye, Black Panther, Nick Fury and whatever is left of SHEILD

I know, Spider-Man was definitely on the side of Iron Man in the original Civil War of Marvel's comic books, but I think if the MCU is going to make this Spider-Man a teenaged high schooler than I would also think that this will be a Spider-Man that wouldn't have the same motivations that made him side with Tony. While, yes, it would undoubtably be cool to see Tony whip out the Spider-Man robo suit he designed Peter Parker in the books - there was also this bit of info that leaked out which makes it sound like Spidey will be on Team Cap in this version of the Civil War.

Choosing a Side

Seeing as how much of an ambassador Tony Stark is, I feel like Iron Man and Black Panther will probably have an uneasy alliance of sorts. I don't think Black Panther is going to get introduced to the MCU as being an enemy of the States by going all anti-registration. I think he'll try to be a bit of a peacemaker but will ultimately start out on the US government and Tony Stark side of things.

If there is going to be one holdover from the Avengers to end up on Iron-Man's side it makes sense that it would be Hawkeye. The guy has always been a kind of toe-the-line kind of dude. And let's face it, he has a history of being a pretty easy guy to brainwash - I think Tony could manage to keep him on the pro-registration side of things. Will Tony & SHEILD also be able to get their hands on Bucky Barnes? Could the Winter Soldier be a big pawn in the Civil War game?

What do you think? What do your hypothetical Captain America: Civil War line-ups look like? Is Tony's side going to look a bit more lonely than I'm making it out to be? Are Cap's buddies Falcon and Black Widow going to leave him hanging?

Also, I'd think that Falcon, Widow, and maybe even Thor would side with Cap even though I don't think Thor is in this movie. I would side with Cap because he's my fave and his friends are also my faves.

Government wants superheroes to register and have their real identities known. Tony agrees. Steve disagrees. People fight. Steve dies. Everything sucks. Tony is a douche. And Spider-man has the worst day ever.

spider-man has the worst day ever lolwhen i read about civil war on the comics on the idea realm it looks a great idea but when i read everything was so fast and then boom steve dies and i am like nooo??? why this is happening? ugh i stop reading later i need to go back but i forgot where i downloaded the comics before

an event the new warriors inadvertently caused when one of their supervillains exploded and killed 600+ people - including most of their own team. tony got on his high horse re the superhero registration act which required all super powered individuals to sign up their identities. caused a massive divide and drove everyone who didn't agree with him underground and started locking everyone who opposed him in a negative zone jail

Thor was busy somewhere else, so Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man, and Ant-Man (Hank Pym) created an android Thor who killed Goliath. Spider-Man was team Tony but flipped to Team Steve and then Tony signed up a bunch of Spidey's villains to hunt him down.

And the writers still wanted people to side with pro-registration (Tony).

As you can see, Tony's side has a lot of villains. Also, almost all the black superheroes were with Captain America except Bishop, which is wild because the X-Men choose to stay out of it and Bishop's backstory. Also, Hawkeye was dead at the time, Bucky was off the grid, and I don't remember where Black Widow was at the time.

The trade paperback without the tie ins makes Tony look like more of a douche than he actually was.

An idiotic team of sueperheroes confronts a self-destructing villain, Nitro, near a fully populated school. He explodes, some heroes die and a lot of children die. This was shortly after the Hulk had been causing a lot of trouble as well and the government sensed public outrage. they call Tony in and he is made aware that some changes are going to have to be made. He convinces Spiderman to join his side and a lot of other heroes that were usually pro-governemtn side with him. TheSHRA is created which forces heroes to register and (possibly, not sure) submit to training to be part of government initiaves of superheroes.

Tony is then made aware that a war with the atlanteans is brewing so they're going to need a team of heroes should a war starts. He fears that everyone will be too busy fighting each other to try to stop them and the public will suffer overall. He's also getting pressure from the families of dead children to do something about the vigilante heroes resisting the law. Meanwhile, someone attacks Happy in one of Tony's factories and he's so paranoid that he confronts Cap and accuses him of doing it. He was going through a lot at the time.

So yeah, what Tony did was not great. Cloning Thor, being a secretive jerk about the law in the first place, planting a mole, etc, those things were awful. But he was dealing with a lot and he was the face of a lot of the hatred. Cap's side did some awful things as well and just the trade paperback makes Tony out to be a lot worse than he was.

It's also debatable as to whether everyone was in character or not. Personally, I think they had Tony be a bit more heartless than he actually is in the some of the trade issues.

I don't think it's entirely farfetched. Comic!Clint, no way. But MCU!Clint who's been tasked to stop people like Thor and was taken advantage of by someone like Loki? I don't think it's totally implausible.

THANK YOU!! And I know RDJ has said something about people changing their views with time and as certain events happen to them, but I don't think Tony going all supremacist on everyone will be an easy sell with how he's been portrayed in the MCU.

I've been pointing out to people how TWS wasn't really about the Winter Soldier at all even though that was the subtitle of the movie. What was really going on was "The Rise Of Hydra".

If anything I think the Superhuman Registration Act will be referenced in the preriphery of the movie but the actual rift will be more personal (probably a revelation that Bucky killed Howard).

i also dreamt the other day that chris evans and i like got all lovey-dovey, and it's REALLY weirding me out every time i see him posted here. i also can't remember if it was chris, steve, or steve dressed up as CA? it was nice, though!